Once, he had been my entire world. If he’d asked, I’d have given up every dream and plan I had for him. But he hadn’t asked. The day we lost Vanna, his mother, and the closest thing I’d ever had to one, I’d lost him too.
Eighteen years later, I’m back in Florida, trying to create a new life for myself after a year of going through the motions since my husband’s death. It’s probably best we don’t know the future because I wouldn’t have walked into that bar if I’d known my eyes would collide with the boy who had shattered me long ago.
But Rome wasn’t that boy anymore. He was a biker with a leather vest, tattoos, and piercings.
While I’d been mesmerized by the man he’d become, all he’d had to say to me was that I had gotten old. Leaving to never step foot back there again, fate plays a cruel twist where the new life I thought I’d found turns out to be a lie constructed by someone I trusted most, and the only one to save me is a biker named Tex.
Review:
Once again I start an Abbi Glines series in the middle…no regrets, though! And bonus, I’ve got her backlist to look forward to as well 😉
Tex/Rome and Salem’s story is a second chance romance, and because of that there is quite a bit of shifting between timelines–besides the current time period, we also see things that happened between them 21 and 18 years prior. The time jumps happen frequently, but overall the storyline still feels pretty balanced. We see a lot of significant scenes from the past that help us to understand them and their dynamic better, so the payoff is definitely there.
It also is part 1 of 2, so be warned. I believe the second half should be coming out next month (
Current time period Rome goes by Tex now and is a member of a motorcycle club, with *all* that that entails. (This is absolutely not a book for those readers who need their heroes to stay pure for their heroine once they meet, because this guy does not do that. At all. He’s decided that relationships are not for him and does think of her when he’s with other women…So. Many. Women…so there’s that at least) Salem’s been a widow for a year (Because of…reasons…Rome did what he could to drive her away in the past, and she moved on–though of course it was never anything like she had with Rome…)
Tex acts like a complete jerk to Salem for most of the current time period, but being able to see inside his head does keep him from being irredeemable. At least we–unlike Salem–know *why* he’s being like this. But man, is it tough for poor Salem. Things get better for them as a couple toward the end–just in time for the book to end 😉 The next book should (hopefully!) bring them to their HEA and resolve the external issues that ensured that they were going to be in close proximity for a good chunk of this one…can’t wait!
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
About the author:
Abbi Glines is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Smoke, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, Field Party and Existence series. She never cooks unless baking during the Christmas holiday counts. She believes in ghosts and has a habit of asking people if their house is haunted before she goes in it. She drinks afternoon tea because she wants to be British but she now lives in New England and that’s as close as it is going to get. When asked how many books she has written she has to stop and count on her fingers. When she’s not locked away writing, she is reading, watching Netflix and all the introverted stuff.
You can connect with Abbi online in several different ways. She uses social media to procrastinate.
You can find more books from Abbi here: https://abbiglinesbooks.com/
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